Portable sawmill.



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H. B. FREY.

PORTABLE SAWMILL.

APPLICATION FILED .TUNE 7, 1904.

5 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905.

H. B. FREY.

PORTABLE SAWMILL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNI; 7. 1904.

5 SHEETS-snm' s.

NQ. 783,426. PATENTED FEB. 28. 1905.

' H. B. FREY.

PORTABLE SAWMILL.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 7, 1904.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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f @al MLM WMM/ No. 783,426. v PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905. H. B. FREY.

PORTABLE SAWMILL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, 1904.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

NiTnD STATES Patented February 28, 1905.

PATENT Fries.

PORTABLE SAWIVIILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,426, dated February28, 1905.

Application filed June 7,1904. Serial No. 211,453.

To @ZZ zul/1,0711, it may concern:

Be it known that l, HENRY B. FREY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in PortableSawmills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to portable sawmills, and has for itsobject t0 improve the same in the several particulars hereinafter noted.

rlhe invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of deviceshereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views. In thepreferred form of the portable sawmill all parts of the plant aremounted upon and carried by a portable support, and the saw is driven bycompressed air or steam operating through a straight-line reciprocating`engine. This portable sawmill is especially designed for use inlumbering-camps, and since this use is usually limited to the wintertime the component parts of the plant are shown as mounted upon a largeand strong flat-bottomed sled, which is capable of freely sliding' oversnow or ice.

This invention is particularly directed to irnproved means for adjustingthe saw or for setting the same for action in any desired position andfor movement in any desired plane regardless of the position of the saidsupporting-sledthat is, regardless of whether the said sled sets on theground in a horizontal plane or is tilted materially out of thehorizontal plane.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the portablesawmill, some parts being broken away. Fig. 2 isa side elevation of thesawmill with some parts broken away. Fig. 3 is a vertical section takenapproximately on the line m3 m3 of Fig. 1, some parts being' removed.Fig. L1 is a transverse vertical section taken approximately on theirregular line mi of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail in section on the line:105 :U5 of Fig. 3, some parts being removed. Fig. 6 is a detail insection on the line fr of Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a detail in side elevationof certain of the parts shown in Fig. 2, said parts being viewed'in thesame direction as in Fig. 2 and some parts being broken away. Fig. 8 isa transverse vertical section-taken on the line ms of Fig. 7, and Fig. 9is a similar view taken` on the line fr a of Fig. 7.

The numeral 1 indicates a heavy iiat-bot tom sled, to the sides and endsof which is rigidly secured a pair of laterally-spacedlongitudinally-extended rails 2, the two rails forming a dovetailedguide over which slides from front to rear of the machine a heavybasesupport 3. The base-support 3 is adapted to be moved from the fronttoward the rear of the sled 1, and vice versa. by means of a longscrew-rod 4, which, as showin, is swiveled in a bearing 5 on atransverse portion 1 of the sled and has screw-threaded engagement witha nut-lug 6, that depends centrally from the bottom of the base-support3.

In the construction illustrated the basesupport 3 is arranged to beadjusted by handpower and is shown as connected, by means of a pair ofmiter-gears 8, to a vertical shaft 9, mounted in suitable bearings 10 onthe forward .portion of the sled 1 and provided at its upper end with ahand-wheel 11, by means of which it lmay be readily turned.

The base-support 3 is provided with adovetailed guide 3, that extendstransversely of the sled 1, preferably at a right angle to thedovetailed guide afforded by the beveled rails 2. Mounted to slide onthe dovetailed guide 3 is a secondarybase-support 12, which is providedwith a depending nut-lug 13 and is adapted to be adjusted understraight-line movements transversely of the machine by means of anadjusting-screw 14, that works through said nut-lug 13, is swiveled inend bearings on the primary base-support 3, and is provided with ahand-wheel 15, by means of which it may be turned.

Pivoted to the secondary base-support 12, with freedom for pivotalmovements in a hori- Zontal plane, is a turn-table base 16,(see-particularly Figs. 3 and 4,) the said members 12 and 16 being tiedtogether by means of a nutted axially.- disposed pivot-bolt 17. Theturn-table base 16 on its lower face, inward of its periphery, is formedwith a beveled gear 18, and at its upper portion, extendingin a verticalplane, it is formed with a segmental bearing arch or guide 19, which, asshown, is bifurcated and formed with inwardly-projecting segmentalbearing-anges 19. A beveled pinion 20, carried by a short shaft 21,mounted in a bearing 22 on the secondary base-support 12, meshes withthe beveled gear 18 of the said turn-table base 16. The shaft 21 at its.outer end is provided with a hand-wheel 23, by means of which thepinion 2O may be rotated to impart pivotal movements to the turn-tablebase 16.

Mounted to oscillate in a vertical plane upon the segmentalbearing-surface 19 ofthe turntable base 16 is asegmental bearing-block24. This bearing-block 24 is adapted to be locked wherever set on thebearing-surface 19 by means of clamping-screws 25 and cooperatingnut-bars 26, the former of which work loosely through anges of saidblock 24 and the latter of which clamp against the segmental flanges19a. (See Figs. 3 and 4.) The bearing-block 24 is formed with adovetailed seg-v mental bearing 27, which extends in a vertical plane ata right angle to the plane of the segmental bearing 19. Mounted tooscillatc with a sliding movement over the segmental bearing 27v andhaving dovctailed engagement therewith is a cylinder-casting' 28, (seeparticularly Figs. 3 and 4,) having a long cylinder 29, that extendshorizontally in the same vertical plane as the central portion ot' thesegmental bearing 27. The said central por- `tion o't' the segmentalbearing 27 is formed with teeth, afording a segmental worm-gear 30, withwhich engages a worm 3l, carried by a shaft 32, provided with ahand-wheel 33, by means of which it may be turned. The shaft 32 and worm31 are carried with the cylindercasting 28that is, are mounted thereonwith freedom for rotary movements, but are held against end wisemovements with respect thereto, so that when the worm 31 is rotated thecylinder-casting 28 will be oscillated in a vertical plane.

The saw-carrier, which is preferably constructed as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, involves a primary driving-head 34, which isrigidly connected to the outer ends of a pair of approximatelyhorizontal plungers 35, which in turn are mounted to reciprocate throughthe end iianges of the cylinder-casting 28 and are rigidly connected attheir rear ends by a tie-bar 36. Working within the cylinder 29 is apiston 37, the stem 38 of which is attached at its outer end to theintermediate portion of the tie-bar 36, so that reciprocating movementsof said pistonl will 1 nion 59, which is seated in the lower portionreciprocate the head 34 in a proper direction to impart cuttingmovements to the saw, as will presently appear.

Air is supplied to the straight-line reciprocating engine, made up ofthe cylinder 29 and piston 37, from air-storage tanks 39, shown asmounted on the bottom of the sled 1 and connected to the valve-chest 4()of the said engine, as shown, by pipe-sections 41 and' 42 and by anintermediate liexible tube 43. (See particularly Fig. 1.) The flexiblehose-section 43 permits free adjustments of the cylindercasting 28 andparts supported thereby. In the pipe-section 42 is avalve 44, whichserves as a throttle to throw the reciprocating en- 29 37 into actionand out of action at As shown, there are two storage-tanks 39, the sainebeing connected by a neck 45 and being' supplied with air' through apipe 46, which leads from a compressor 47, which compressor is shown asdriven by an explosiveengine 48. The said engine and compressor arediagrammatically shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and are illustrated as mountedupon the for- V.ward end ot' the sled 1.

rl`he compressed air delivered into the valvechest 40 is under theaction ot' a slide-valve 49, mounted within said chest, alternatelyadmitted into and exhausted from the opposite ends of the cylinder 29through Vports 50. (See Figs. 1 and 3.) Said valve 49 may be ot' theusual construction', but is provided with a valve-stem 51. that projectsthrough suitable stuffing-boxes both in the front and in the rear of thechest 40 and, as shown, are further guided by bearings 52 on theprojecting bracket-like ends of the cylindercasting 28. The head 34 hasa laterally-projecting tappet 53, which is adapted to engage theright-hand end of the valve-stem 51, and likewise the tie-bar 36 isprovided with a laterally-projecting tappet 54, which is adapted toengage with the left-hand end of the valvestem 51, directions beingtaken with respectto Fig. 1.

By the action of the tappets 53 and 54 on the valve-stem 51 the valve 49is shifted at the limits of the stroke of the piston so that themovement of the piston is automatically reversed and the head 34 will becontinuously reciprocated as long as the compressed air or steam, as thecase may be, is admitted into the valve-chest 40.

The saw 55 is detachably secured to a rotatively-adjustable shank orholder 56, carried by a so-called secondary driving-head 57, which inturn has dovetailed engagement with the primary head 34 and is mountedto move vertically thereon. The so-called sawshank 56-is, as shown,bifurcated to embrace one end of the saw 55, and the said saw is securedthereto by a short nutted bolt 58. Furthermore, -as shown, the shank 56has a trun- IOO of the vertically-adjustable secondary bearing-head 57and is engaged by a countersunk nut 60. (See Fig. 3.) The saw-shank 56is adapted to be locked against rotary movements by means ofaclamping-screw 61, which works through a segmental slot 62, cut in theexpanded base-flange of said shank 56 and screwed into thehub-likeportion 57, rigidly secured to and acting as a part of thesecondary driving-head 57. The saw 55, illustrated in the drawings, is asimple crosscut-saw supported from one end only; but it will of coursebe understood that a saw of any suitable form may be employed and thatthe said saw may be supported in any suitable way.

The primary driving-head 34 is formed with a vertically-disposedcylinder63, that extends from the upper and lower end thereof. forkingin the cylinder 63 is a piston 64, the stem 65 of which is connectedat-its upper end to the upper extremity of the secondary driving-head57. (See Figs. 2 and 3.)

The heretofore-noted air-delivery pipe-scction 42 has an extension orbranch 66, which leads to a port 67 of a valve-seat casting 68, rigidlysupported by one end flange of the cylinder-casting 28. (See Figs. 1, 7,8, and 9.) Mounted within the casting68 is arotary valve 69, which isformed with one pair of ports 71 and 70 71, said ports being shown,respectively, in Figs. 8 and 9. The valve 69 at one end is shown asprovided with a handpiece 69, by means of which it may be turned. In theposition of the valve shown' in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 the port 71 opens upcommunication between the port 67 and a port72, formed -in the casting68, and through the port 70 opens up a port 73 to exhaust, as shown inFig` 9. The porty 72 leads to a tube 74, and the port73 leads to a tube75, which tubes are rigidly secured to one flange of thecylinder-casting 28 and are provided at their outer ends withstuffing-boxes 76.A Relatively lixed tubes 7 4n and 751telescopeinto thetubes 74 75, respectively, as best shown in Fig. 7, and lead,respectively, to the Lipper andlower ends of the cylinder 63, formedwithin the driving-head 34. (See Fig. 3.)

lith the valve 69 set as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 live steam or air willbe admitted into the upper end of the cylinder 63, while the lower endof said cylinder will be opened up to exhaust. Hence under theseconditions the piston 64, and hence, of course, the secondarydriving-head 57 and the saw, will be yieldingly forced downward. Vhen,however, the valve 69 is moved approximately ninety degrees in eitherdirection from the position shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the port 72 will beopen to exhaust, and live steam will be admitted into the port 73, andhence into the lower end of the cylinder 63, thereby causing' the piston64 to rise, carrying with it the secondary driving-head 57 and the saw.

Operation: From what has been said it will be understood that the sawand the saw-driving heads or-reciprocating support therefor are capableof substantially universal adjustments with respect to a horizontalplane and with respect to the sled or ground-engaging member.

The device isof course adapted for use to sawdown trees and for usethereafter to saw the tree into logs. In the drawings the saw is shownas set in a vertical plane, and hence is adapted for use at suoli timeto saw a horizontally-disposed tree-trunk into logs. To set the saw forsawing off standing trees,the handscrew 61 should be loosened, the sawshould then be turned into a horizontal plane, and said screw 61 shouldthen be again tightened to hold the saw in its setposition in a planeintersecting the axis of the cylinder 63 at an angle of ninety degrees.By vertical movements of the piston 64 under the control of theair-regulating valve 61 the saw should be raised or lowered untilbrought to the desired elevation above the ground. It will usuallyhappen that the sled 1 will not rest upon level ground; but it isnevertheless desirable that the saw should be set to work on ahorizontal plane when it is used to saw off a perpendicular object, suchas a standing tree. The saw may be thus set regardless of the positionof the sled by first adjusting the cylinder-casting 28 on the segmentalbearing-block 27, thereby imparting an angular movement to the saw andby proper adjustments bringing both ends of the saw into the samehorizontal plane. Then by adjustments of the segmental bearing-block 27on the segmental bearing 19- of the turn-table base 18 the cylindercasting 28 may be oscillated transversely, so as to bring the cylinder63 into a true vertical position, and thereby set the saw to cut in ahorizontal plane.

The saw when set horizontally, as above described, may be forced to itswork and caused to travel through the trunk of the tree by an angularmovement imparted thereto by a rotary adjustment of the turn-table 18.Furthermore, by the movements of the said turntable the saw may be setto cut under a reciprocating movement longitudinally of the sled ortransversely thereof, as may be desired. With the saw set in ahorizontal plane and extending longitudinally of the sled 1 the said sawmay be fed to its work by movement of the secondary base-support 12under the action of the screw 14. On the other hand,with the said sawset to work in a horizontal plane, but transversely of the sled, feedmovements may beimparted to the saw by adjustments of the primarybase-support 3 under the action of the long feed-screw 4.

Vhen the saw/is to be used to saw a felled tree into logs, it should beturned vertically into the plane of the axis of the cylinder 63. Then byadjustments of they segmental bearing-block 27 the saw may be set to cutin a TOO IIO

vertical plane or in a plane at any angle to the vertical plane whichmay be desired. By movements of the turn-table 18 the saw may be swunghorizontally until it crosses the log or tree-trunk at a right angle.The saw being thus positioned, it may be yieldingly fed to its work andcaused to travel downward through the log by air admitted into the upperend of the cylinder 63. The saw when set as above described may also befed to its work by angular movement imparted thereto by adjustments ofthe cylinder-casting 28 on the segmental bearing-block 27 under theaction of the Worm 31. The saw may also be caused to cut under averticallyupward movement when the saw is turned teeth edge upward inthe shank or holder 56. The saw may of course be caused to cut byymovement either toward the right or toward the left when the saw isturned in a horizontal plane. It will also be understood that thevarious adjustments of the parts which support the saw make it possibleto project the saw for action in any desired direction, and

hence considerable ground may be covered without moving the sled orportable saw-support.

The portable sawmill described. while especially adapted for use inthewoods for felling trees and sawing the same into logs, is neverthelesscapable of general use wherever a device of the general character of themill herein disclosed is desired. The said mill, as is evident, iscapable of many modilications within the scope of my invention as hereinset forth and claimed. 'It is of course evident that the so-calledportable support instead of being in the form of a sled might be awheeled truck or trucks or might take other forms. 1 What I claim, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent ot' the United States, is as follows:

1. The combination with a portable support, ofaprimary support, slidably mounted thereon, a secondary support slidably mounted on saidprimarysnpport transversely of its-line of adjustment, a turn-tablemounted on said secondary support and provided with a segmentalbearing-surface, a segmental bearingblock mounted on the segmentalbearing-surface of said turn-table and having a segmentalbearing-surface lying in a plane transversel y intersecting the saidafore-noted bearing-surface, a straight-line reciprocating engine,having its cylinder-casting mounted for angular movements on thesegmental bearingsurface of said segmental bearing-block, a driving-headmounted to reciprocate on said cylinder-casting and connected to thepiston of said reciprocating engine, and a saw carried by saiddriving-head, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a reciprocating driving-head having anadjustable secondary section, of a straight-line reciprocating engineconnecting the primary and secondary sections of said driving-head, anda saw applied to the secondary section ot' said driving-head, andadapted to be yieldingly forced to its work under the action of saidengine, substantially as described.

3. The combination with. a reciprocating driving-head, provided with asecondary section, of a straight-line reciprocating engine connected tothe primary section of said drivinghead and arranged to reciprocate thesame, ot' a second straight-line reciprocating engine connecting theprimary and secondary sections of said driving-head. and a saw appliedto the secondary section of said drivinghead, whereby the saw is givenits operative movements by the first-noted engine, 'and is fed to itswork by the second-noted engine, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afHX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY B. FREY.

Witnesses:

R. C. MABEY, F. D. MERCHANT.

